Confession of a Peach Giver
by aliene-1
Summary: You know Sarah's story about the Labyrinth.  You know about Jereth.  Now it is time to know his.
1. Chapter 1 Who am I

The Other Side of the Leaf

Disclaimer: I don't own it...yet! Not really but maybe next life time.

_You know her story. Now know mine._

I am assuming that if you are reading this you already know the story about Sarah's journey through the Goblin King Jareth's labyrinth to save her brother Toby. If you know the story then you know who I am. Not too many people wonder about who I am they just know me as the little goblin that had a peculiar obsession with jewelry. Yes, you have probably guessed my identity now. I am Hoggle. I am the goblin who at first seemed to be the mean goblin that didn't care about anything but himself and had a strange obsession with killing fairies, but there is much more than meets the eye. I was once as human as you are now and like Sarah, many years before her story I was drawn into the labyrinth to try and rescue someone who I loved as well. So if you are at all interested than you might as well just sit down and listen to my tale. I know it's not much but, well, maybe you will come out of it with a little understanding of why I am the way I am.

Where to begin? Well I guess it would only be proper to start before all the mess about Sarah ever began. My story starts long before Sarah ever had a little brother, in fact I could probably honestly say that it started long before she was even born. I was human. I grew up in a nice family. At least I believe that they were nice. Hmm. Well, you try to remember details of events that happened over a hundred years ago and then tell me how much _you_ remember! Yes, I had a mother and father who loved and cared for me. I lived somewhere in the United States but I can't recall anymore the exact location. Not like it still exists. But anyway that detail is of little importance. All you need to know is that I was human lived with a mother and father and now I need to fill in the gap between then and Sarah's journey. At that time I was know as John.


	2. Chapter 2 School Days

School Days

Disclaimer: Still don't own it yet...or ever sadly.

My life as a boy was private. I had a slight weight problem that made me the target of bullies at school so I tended to keep to myself. I was no good at any sports so I was bullied by the jocks as "the fat kid". I was good in classes so I was bullied as the nerd. There really was no place where I could avoid them except at home. My mother worried about me, always asking why I had no friends at school. My father barely noticed me because he was at work all day. Over the week ends he would always ask me the same questions about why I wasn't in any sports or clubs. When I told him I was no good he always gave me the same statement about how when he was my age he was in ever sports and clubs, yah, yah, yah. You probably have heard the same thing in your life also.

So I spent my weekdays dreading school, my week nights dreading my mothers moans about how worried she was that I had no friends, and spent my weekends dreading my father's complaints about me being so anti-social. Through most of my middle school life I lived that way until I reached the 6th grade and a new student moved in. His name was Robert and like me he hated sports. He didn't hate them because he was out of shape, like I was, but because he never understood them, he claimed. Actually he was surprisingly fit. I never would have visualized him as a person who hated sports, he seemed like the kind of person who could win at anything and not even try. Regardless of that he was also extremely smart. If he wasn't smarter than I was than he was a dame close second. As the two outcasts we soon became friends.

Life from 6th to 8th grade became increasingly easier to tolerate. I suddenly had a friend who I could bring home to show my mother so she stopped bothering me. Latter on Robert introduced me to many different activities like riddles, chess, and mazes that I soon joined every club that he was associated with or created and my father no longer cared since I found my notch. I became incredibly good at chess and riddles that Robert often joked that he wishes he never introduced me to the two things, but the mazes always did me in. I never became good with them. No matter now simple the maze was and how much help Robert would give me I could never finish them on my own.

For two years I enjoyed the company of Robert and then after 8th grade graduation I learned that Robert's parents were going to send him to a private high school. I was not as fortunate. I my parents saw no reason for me to go to a private school so I was sent to the local high school where my parents could keep an eye on me. Robert and I promised to keep in touch and as a parting gift he game me a wooden Labyrinth. You know one of those blocks with a maze cut out of it with the marble you have to navigate to the end using two axis knobs that tilt the top face in different ways! After he left I became the sole target of the bullies again but at least I had comfort in a maze when I came home.


	3. Chapter 3 Little Surprises

Little Suprises

Disclaimer: still don't own it.

I was fine in high school, well at least much better than I was in middle school. I was a champion chess player and an excellent student. I was able to keep most of the bullies away with a new weapon that I had just discovered, helping them cheat! Suddenly I was picked on less than I used to be because I was a necessity. I wrote to Robert every week and we were able to keep somewhat up to date with each other, but it never was the same as it used to be. To tell the truth I believe that the time I started high school was extremely slow, it wasn't until I learned that I was to have a sibling that life got interesting.

I don't remember the exact date but I can tell you exactly what happened after that day of school. I was walking back to the house like any other day with five books on various subjects that I had to do papers on for the following week. Both my parents were sitting inside the house waiting for me, and I knew something was off when I saw this. My father never stayed home unless it was an emergency or else it was a holiday, and at that time as far as I knew no one was sick and nothing of national significance was due to be celebrated. The whole process of tell me about my new sibling to come, I have to admit, annoyed the heck out of me. I just wanted to know what the big deal was. Then they told me that my mother was going to have a baby and soon I was to have a little brother or sister.


	4. Chapter 4 Life with Tia

Life with Tia

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

I have to admit the news was shocking. I did not know how to take it. I remember my mother having a huge grin on her face and my father with what seemed to be a smile on his just looking at me waiting for a reaction. I don't even know what it was I finally was able to muster out, but I do remember that it was not what either of them was expecting. I know for the next few months until the day that the baby was born I tried to live my life as normally as possible, regardless of the fact that the entire house was being redecorated, but after the birth of the baby happened my world was turned upside-down.

Tia was born. I remember being nervous to meet her for the first time but I fell in love with her as soon as I first saw her. My precious Tia. I suddenly had a new reason to live and she was the cause of my rebirth. No, I still don't understand why or what made me so attached to her but in any case I found my self caring more for this individual than I ever have before. She was my life and she became the reason why I kept breathing everyday.

I spent every waking moment that I was not in school playing with Tia. She became as important to me as the air I breathed. I feel that I spoiled her more than both my parents combined wanting to spend any kind of money that I somehow procured on her. I was the first person to ever see her smile, I witnessed her first laugh and my name became the first word she ever spoke. I even was able to develop and interest in mazes with her.


	5. Chapter 5 Wishes

Wishes

Disclaimer: I wish I owned it but I don't.

When she reached the age of two, life started to take a turn. I still loved her as much as the first day I meet her, but she started getting into a stage of exploring things that were not hers. So I found that when I was not home she would find ways to get into things that I thought were unbreakable in many different stages of irreplaceable. I found myself becoming more and more irritated with her but I was always able to maintain myself and convince myself that it was just a phase that she was going though.

Then one day I came home to find the only thing that tied me to Robert broken. Tia had found a way to reach my labyrinth and broke it. I was so inferiorated with her at that point that I went into a blind rage. She ran away from my room screaming and crying and I slammed the door behind me. That was to be the last time I would ever see my sister Tia as I knew her then. I started screaming myself smashing objects left and right in my room cursing the world for ever letting her come into my life. Through my screams and my tears I could still hear my sister screaming and crying in another room. I started begging and yelling for anyone to take her away and when I uttered the words "I wish" a silence fell that I did not understand.

"I wish" How I have come to hate those words. Every one tells children that if they believe in them all their wishes will come true. What they don't seem to remember to tell them is that it will come at huge cost that are sometimes more than we want to bare. Stepped out of my room looking for my sister and what I found was an empty room. You are probably thinking along the lines of the scene from the movie where all the goblins are just out of sight of Sarah, but to tell the truth I wish it had been that way. My entire house was redecorated. It was as if I went through a time warp and walked into a pre Tia house. I found my mother sitting in a chair knitting and when I asked about Tia I found too my horror that she had never been born.

I ran back into my room and shut the door now weeping and crying about a lost sister. Then I heard a strange noise that I could not place. It sounded of glass grinding against each other. I looked up and there on my window sill sat the infamous Jareth. That part of the movie was accurate. Jareth definitely had a coy attitude when it came to dealing with humans who regretted beckoning him. After a short chat as he would call it and my repeated pleads to give me back my sister I soon found myself standing on a hill looking down at a monster of a labyrinth listening to Jareth's cackles as he disappeared into the mist.


	6. Chapter 6 despair

Despair

Disclaimer: still don't own it, still want to.

I don't know how long I stood there, but I do remember exactly what was going through my mind. I knew that this was a futil task that I was going to fail. I felt the despair of knowing that I was not going to succeed but I had to try. That feeling in your gut that you get when you know that you are in a situation where there is no good outcome was encased in my body like the wrapping of a mummy. I did try and solve the maze but I was unsuccessful. I had lost my sister and the despair that I felt, I don't believe anyone should have to bear.

I did not know what I was going to do but after my failure I was sent back to my world. I wandered through daily routines with no desire to continue living without my sister. My performance in school which was not that interesting to begin with, deteriorated to drone like. I truly became suicidal. I wanted to just get rid of the pain in knowing that everything that I ever loved or cared about was gone from me. Then when I came home from school I met someone who I never thought I would see again.

I walked up to my room and who was there but the Goblin King, Jareth. I stood there just staring at him for a minute no knowing what I wanted to do. I felt ever emotion race through my mind at one once. I wanted to kill him or force him to return my sister to me, and he just sat there staring at me with a grin that seemed to mock me. I decided that I was going to swing and punch him, but he seemed to just laugh when he saw me run towards him fist raised ready to strike him. Just when my hand would have made contact with him, his body seemed to just disappear a reappear on the other side of the room. I probably should have taken the hint and kept running at him constantly trying to hit him and each time he disappeared. Finally when I was completely exhausted I sat on the ground and just stared back at the thing that was responsible for my despair.

When I finally settled down Jareth stood up and started walking around the room just looking at everything in a mocking way. If his plan was to annoy me before he told me anything, than he completely succeeded. After a good amount of pacing he finally started to talk to me. He told me that he had been observing me since my failure in his "little maze". He told me that he was impressed that even after being beaten I was still not willing to let go of a child that he had made no longer exist. He asked me why I still held onto a gleam of a memory that is no more. I told him that a memory, no matter how small, how meaningless to others, and how fragile, is worth keeping if it give your life meaning, is part of who you are, or defines how your life is lived.


	7. Chapter 7 Fairy Tail of Tia

Fairy Tail of Tia

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not even the bog.

I was surprised about his reaction. I was expecting him to laugh hysterically at my stupidity and just disappear and leave me with my torment again but instead he just sat down and observed me. He told me that he was surprised about my answer because my sister had said the same thing when he asked her about why he was acting so down in his world. Suddenly Jereth had my full attention. I started bombarding Jereth with questions about how Tia was doing, if I could see her, if I could be with her and a thousand others. Jereth calmed me down and said that she was going fine and that he needed me to calm down before he told me any more about my sister.

I sat there ever attentive listing to him wanting to swallow ever piece of information that he would give me. Jereth told me that in his years as the Goblin King he had seen many countless numbers of mortals who had tried to conquer his puzzles and said that some succeeded and some failed. He told me that every once in a while there is a mortal who fails his trials, but his desire to keep fighting even after failure is inevitable, they keep fighting. He had been impressed by my attempts to solve the labyrinth and even more impressed that even after I failed I still held strongly to the memories of my sister. He told me that my sister was just as impressive also.

I was about to ask Jereth another question until he motioned to me to be silent. He told me that when a mortal is turned over into a creature of the underground their last emotional stamp and memory of life in our world is imprinted on them forever. This processes if necessary for it help decided what they will become and their role in the labyrinth. There were two brothers who could never agree about anything that were accidentally wished away by their mother who became doors in his many trials in the labyrinth. There was a group of punks who were wished away by a woman who was annoyed by their constant reckless behavior that were turned into creatures called firys. My sister was no exception to this but the imprinted memory and her behavior after her transformation was something he had not seen in a while.

My sister remembers how angry I was at her and how I screamed at her for breaking my things but the emotion that was there was not fear, but sadness. Somehow even at the young age she was the emotion that was felt had no fear in it at all. She knew that I loved her and no matter how precious of an item she broke, I would still embrace her as my sister in the end. She was turned into a fairy because she had the sprit of a child and her desire to make me happy. When I heard about what had happened I truly broke down and cried. I asked Jereth if there was a way that I could stay with her, either in my world or hers. Jereth told me that she could never return to my world for once a mortal is changed they can never change back. I could be with her but only if someone wished me into the labyrinth and with that he disappeared.

I stood there wondering what I was to do. I didn't really know anyone who would be willing to wish me away and I desperately want to be with Tia. And then it came to me. I soon found myself standing in front of a mirror looking at myself for the last time as a human. I stared into my own eyes for the last time and wished myself into the labyrinth.


	8. Chapter 8 Reunion

Reunion

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

I once again found myself standing in front of the labyrinth with Jereth by my side. When I saw him he just smiled at me. He told me that I had a lot of strength to actually wish myself away. He told me that to wish another away does not take that much will power, but to wish yourself away, one must take all the will power of the person who makes the wish. Many people will try, but they are not willing to give themselves completely over in fear of the results. There are few who have that ability and even fewer who are willing to use it.

Jereth walked me into a garden in which there were a few flowers scattered here and there. I saw that there were ferries flying around and wondered if one of them was my sister. When I asked Jereth he just smiled at me and told me to take a walk into the garden and see for myself. I did as I was told and took a few steps in not sure what to expect. As I was looking around I saw that a few of the fairies stopped and look at me, but most of them were not interested in who I was or what I was doing there. I looked around and none of the fairies looked or even acted like I would have expected Tia to behaive.

I was starting to get very down hearted when I decided to actually look at the flowers. I saw that the flowers were actually homes for the fairies. When I walked over to them I saw that in each flower there was a fairy that lived inside. I started looking into each flower hoping that I would see something that would indicate that the fairy was my sister. I looked around and saw that there were flowers of all different colors and decided to try looking at the flowers that were purple, Tia's favorite color as a human. I looked in every brightly colored flower I could find and nothing stood out to me. My hope for finding my sister was starting to ware thin and in a slump about not being able to find my sister I yelled out her name.

That was when something strange happened. At first nothing was out of the ordinary, a few of the fairies were startled by my outburst but they just kept on flying around as soon as it was over. Then one of the purple flowers that seemed to be darker than the others suddenly burst open and a fairy flew out and started dancing about my body. I knew that this had to be my sister because she always had energy to run around me after I came back from school. I could not understand what she was saying, because all I could hear was a sound that remained me of tiny bells ringing but I knew that she was as happy as I was to see each other. I also noticed that the flower that she had popped out of suddenly took on a brighter purple glow.

Jereth suddenly appeared next to me which, even though I had not been around him much, I had gotten used to. He told me that the flower that a fairy chooses to live in takes on the emotional persona of the creature that lives inside. Since my sister had been depressed since I left her flower was losing it luminance. Eventually if Tia had continued on her downward path the flower would have died and she would have changed from a fairy to newt which was basically a darker version of her former self.

I asked Jereth about why I could not understand what my sister was saying and he told me that as a human I would not be able to understand the language of the fairies only creatures of the underworld are able to understand each other. Then Jereth became very serious with me and told me that I had to make my decision. I was told that he could keep me in my human form in the underworld if I stayed in the court with Jereth and I would be given free access to the kingdom but would still be bound to Jereth do become a correspondent to the human world. He told me that while he was amused with interacting with humans he wished for a break from it and while I would still be a creature of the underground, I would maintain a connection to the human world.

My other option was to be transformed into a creature of the underground. While I would still be under the control of Jereth I was free to be anywhere and no longer have a connection to the human world. I would have to live on my own and create my own home and learn how to live all over again. I obviously chose to be transformed, after all I was technically reborn. I had left my old life to live with my sister and since I never really fit in as a human, maybe I would fair better as a dwarf in this world.


	9. Chapter 9 New Beginings

New Beginings

Disclaimer: Don't ask, don't own.

So I became the dwarf that people have come to know me as. Now you know how I transformed from John the human boy to a creature of the underground, but there is still much more that you need to know to understand why I am how I am as a dwarf. After all I still need to explain how I earned my name and why I hate fairies. So my story shall continue.

My transformation was oddly uneventful. Jereth told me to go to sleep and when I wake up my transformation would be complete. I wish tell you some elaborate transformation process where I was part of some fanciful ritual where I floated in the air and a brilliant light take over me and then all of a sudden I stand up and there I am as a dwarf, but no it was good night, …good morning, hum I'm a dwarf, would you look at that.

The first thing that I did in my new form was found Tia. The task was much easier than it was when I was in my human form. I merely called her name where the purple flowers were and out she popped. It was heaven to finally be able to hear her voice again. We must have talked for hours. I was weeping by the end of it for shear joy of being with my sister again. I must have apologized a hundred times for being a fool a wishing her away, and each time she told me that it was not my fault and she felt no guilt for my actions. All that mattered to either of us was that we were together now.

My new life was wonderful. At first I just spent time with Tia hanging out with her and the fairies and soon became a good friend with all the fairies and spent my time with most of them. Of course I concentrated most of my time with Tia. I decided that I was going to make my home next to the flower garden where Tia lived so that when I woke up she would always be there and I could greet her.

Eventually I decided that I needed to spend my time doing something other than sitting around talking to the fairies and watching over my sister. I decided that since I lived in the garden I should think about becoming a gardener. I started planting flowers and removing dead plant, and in general just cleaning up the garden. I was amazed at how easy it was, but I guess I should not have been surprised, after all this is the underground.

When ever I was not tending the garden me and Tia would walk to labyrinth. While I was still unable to solve it Tia could breeze through it no problem. I found myself falling into the oubliette so many times that I decided that I would memories that instead. When my sister asked why I joked around with her that since I always seemed to find my self in them I mine as well just learn them incase I ever truly needed to get through the labyrinth again.

Within a few weeks the garden was brighter and more lush than the greatest garden that ever existed in the human world. Soon fairies from all over the underground were coming to my garden and my sister and I had more friends than either of us knew what to deal with. My sister decided to reward me with the only gift that she could think of. She made me a single gemstone that she had built.

Hum, I think I need to step back a bit. Each creature in the labyrinth has a talent. This talent is developed and evolves over time. You know of some of the creatures and their abilities. Ludo and his ability to talk to rocks, Jereth and his fascination with crystal balls, me and my… well you will find out later. All fairies have the same talent. They can build gem stones out of morning dew.

Now I never was much of a gem person as a human or a goblin, but the fact that it was a gesture of gratitude from Tia I took it open heartedly and was truly happy that she made it for me. When ever she made a new gemstone she would show them to me and every so often she would hand me one. Eventually I collected enough that I made bracelets out of them and wore them on my wrist so that everyone could she them. This always made my sister happy. Soon other fairies were joining in and I was getting gemstones from all the fairies and soon I had over a dozen bracelets. I never got tired of them though. I could have lived until the end of eternity living my life like this.


	10. Chapter 10 Tragety 2

Tragedy 2

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing

I was in heaven and this was my Eden. And for many years Tia and I lived happily in the community of fairies. But if it had stay that way none of my action would have made sense when Sarah arrived so the tragedy must continue. It was many years after my transformation and I was still happily living with Tia. The garden had become a utopia of fairies and it was becoming difficult for me to keep up with the size of the garden. One thing that I had not anticipated was the inhabitants of some pests. This nascence came in the form of wasps.

Now for a human, provided they are not allergic, a wasp sing hurts for a certain amount of time but goes away and all that is left is a mark that also will heal in time. In the underground it is very much the same, depending of your size. For me being a dwarf I was fine. Being stung hurt but it was not life threatening. For the fairies it was another thing. Many of the wasps were as big as the fairies and for them getting stung was life threatening. I knew that in order for me to protect my sister I had to find a way to fight off the wasps.

I traveled into the junk yard where I was able to procure a spray can and into it I poured my hate of wasps. When I tried spraying the wasps with this the results were impressive. The wasps fell dead when ever I hit them. I found that the can would never run dry as long as I had my hands on it. I would later learn that it worked on anything I wanted to kill. So began my war against the wasps. I asked one of the fairies to try and find the hive where the wasps lived and tell them that as long as they stayed away from my garden and my fairies I would have no problem with them, but anyone of them that entered into my garden I would kill. The response was quick and violent. The fairy never returned, in one piece.

I still did not want to attack the wasps I just wanted to ensure the safety of my sister and the garden, and as I told them every single wasp I saw enter into my garden was killed on sight by me. Eventually the wasps entered less and less into my garden. I thought that they were finally giving up and were going to leave us alone. Little did I know that all they were doing was building up forces to try and launch an all out offensive on my garden and the fairies.

Finally the attacks of the wasp ended. I waited a few days to ensure that the wasps were not sneaking in, but after a few more days I put my spray can away. Then the attack came. I was tending a section of the garden when suddenly I heard commotion and sound of pain coming from where my fairies lived. I rushed over and saw to my horror a swarm of wasps attacking everything that was living there. I rushed over to my spray can and ran back in. I blanked the entire area of the garden and when the smoke cleared the bodies of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of wasps on the ground scattered with bodies of fairies as well. I ran around in a panic searching for my sister. I finally found her and to my horror she had been stung. She was hit in the arm but it was still deadly for her. I lay her in her flower and I watched over her as she lay dying in front of my eyes.

The other fairies tried to comfort me and many more tried to help my sister. Each day her flower grew darker and each day I sank into a deeper and deeper depression. My garden was dying around me, but I did not care. I sat by and kept a vigilant watch over my sister for five more days. On the sixth day all color from my sister's flower was gone. I took her body and buried it in the middle of where our garden used to be. I placed her flower on top and sat there. My despair turned to anger towards the wasps and soon that hate transformed into hate. That hate turned into a rage and I was soon out to avenge my sister.


	11. Chapter 11 Birth of Hoggle

Birth of Hoggle

Disclaimer: Own nothing

I grabbed the spray can and hunted down the wasps nest. Every one that I found on the way their I sprayed and when I found it I did not even hesitate. I poured my hate into that nest and even after I knew that there was not a living thing in it I continued to spray. When it was over my hate was not gone I turned towards the fairies for not saving my sister and went on a rampage. I poured into the spray can every ounce of hate and anger and despair that I could and I blanketed my garden with this toxic cloud. When the smoke cleared there was barely a fairy left still alive.

I could not believe what I had done and tried to make up with the fairies for my actions begging them to forgive me. None of them would talk to me after that and all I got for a response from them was a vicious little bit. I understood that this was my punishment and I let them bit me. I decided that if I could no longer help the fairies I would destroy the garden and that I did. While I was destroying it I tripped and hurt my leg and when I tried to walk around I found that I had a slight hobble. After the garden was destroyed I decided that I would guard the gate to the labyrinth so that no one could enter unless I let them.

It was not long after that that Jereth found me. He asked me why I had destroyed the garden and killed so many of his fairies. When I told him the story of what had happened he looked at me and told me he understood what happened, but could not let the deed go unpunished. He cursed my leg to never fully heal and I would have the limp for the rest of my days in the underground. I was not fit to have a human name since with the slaughtering of so many fairies I had lost my humanity he named me Hoggle to always remind me of the limp and why it was there.


	12. Chapter 12 Full Circle

Full Circle

Disclaimer: Nothing owned

And so that is the story of my transformation from John, to Hoggle. I live the rest of my life killing fairies trying to wipe them away from my memories, wearing my jewels, and guarding the labyrinth. I never did step foot into that labyrinth again until that faith full day that a young girl caught me at an awkward time asking how to get into the labyrinth. I still don't know what it was about Sarah that enticed me. I tried to ignore her but the sound of her voice and the determination to save her brother kept reawakening emotion that I had long thought I had gotten rid of. After I let her in and found my self doing something I never would have thought I ever would have done. I entered once again into the labyrinth.

The story of Sarah is far better than that of my own. I still talk to Sarah every now and again but that is only when she calls for me. In the underground life after Sarah took an unexpected change. I decided that I would rebuild my garden. That way if Sarah ever decided to come back she would have a better vision than that of her previous visit. The fairies still bit me, but I find that building the garden and letting them live there is an easier way of coping. Maybe my life will finally turn around, but that is another story altogether.


End file.
